Overhauling problem areas for extreme peformance improvements
A rebuilt sales summary report went from taking over 15 hours to under 15 minutes.
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"Allegro continues to meet and exceed our expectations! The team members have all been exceptional!"

Suha Beidas-Zehl, Guidance Residential

Sugar Express Released on On-Demand Platform

(April 30, 2009) Sugar Express, an inexpensive, on-demand CRM solution for individuals and small businesses, has just been released on the global on-demand computing platform – the Sugar Open Cloud.

Sugar Express has the core sales, marketing, and support features, as well as Sugar Plug-ins for Microsoft Office. It features SugarCRM Customer Support Platform functionality including Module Builders (create custom modules) and Cloud Connectors (integrating third-party data services from companies such as Hoover’s).  

The SugarCRM Open Cloud enables SugarCRM to offer unified pricing for all three of its commercial products – Express, Professional, and Enterprise, regardless of deployment selection.  

According to SugarCRM, "Upon purchase, customers gain immediate access to their Sugar products on the Sugar Open Cloud along with a download key to deploy products in-house or in other cloud environments. Sugar customers are therefore freed from the vendor lock-in that characterizes other cloud providers while benefiting from SugarCRM's unrivaled portability and flexibility." 

Learn how your business can be streamlined with SugarCRM solutions today. Contact Mike Lonski, President of Allegro, at (804) 553-1130 or send him an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

 

Using EventBoard Makes Managing Your Conference Easier!

PUG Challenge has announced that they will be using EventBoard to help conference attendees manage their schedules better.  EventBoard is a free app that allows you to view and search for conference sessions by name, speaker, track, and time slot. Once a conference catalog is downloaded, the information is stored locally on your device, making it accessible even if you’re not. You can also plan sessions, rate sessions and mark favorite sessions.For more information on PUGChallenge's use of this app, visit PUGChallenge.org.

Spring 2012 PUG Presentations Now Available!

A big thank you to Progress Software for hosting the Spring 2012 VA and NC PUG meetings.  In case you missed it, this was a great opportunity to hear from Progress itself regarding all of the great new offerings in OpenEdge 11.  Progress presented on topics such as Progress Developer Studio, Developing Business Process Applications, Multi-Tenancy, and Cloud Security.  All of the presentations are available for download at PUGCentral.org.  To access these and other helpful documents, you will need to register first.  Go to "downloads" and select "presentations".  Visit PUGCentral.org today!

Date Change for the Spring 2012 NC PUG Meeting

Please note that the date for the Spring 2012 NC PUG meeting has changed.  The meeting, which will be part of the OpenEdge Release Tour, will be held on Tuesday, April 17th.  The location will be the Keystone Systems offices as usual.

Visit Allegro At Business After Hours!

On February 16th, Allegro will be exhibiting at one of Richmond's Premier Networking events; Business After Hours.  From 5:30 to 7:30pm you can enjoy refreshments and door prizes with your fellow Richmond businesses at the Torque Club!

Allegro will be on hand to show you how SugarCRM can make keeping in touch with your clients a breeze!  Also, if you are ready to expand your business and want to sell your products online, we can share  our expertise with Magento - a flexible yet, robust ecommerce solution.

We can't wait to meet you!

Upcoming conferences

Allegro Hopes to See You Soon!

There are many opportunities to explore the world of opensource and osCommerce this year.  Below are some great conferences aimed at helping you learn how to gain a web presence and start selling online!  Allegro can help you expand your business to the web!  Already have a website and ready to start selling your products online?  Contact Allegro today!

imagine eCommerce

April 23-25, 2012
Las Vegas, NV
Imagine is where merchants, partners, developers and Magento enthusiasts from around the world come together for three days in an engaging and exciting environment for collaboration, learning, networking, inspiration… and of course – Imagination!

DrupalCon

March 19-23, 2012
Denver, CO

DrupalCon Denver is the official conference of the Drupal community. DrupalCon is a biannual event presented to an ever-expanding international audience since Drupal became an open-source project in 2001. It's put on by a fabulous group of volunteers and organizers from across the globe.
The Colorado Convention Center will accommodate the largest and most active gathering of Drupal developers and users in the heart of downtown Denver, Colorado.
DrupalCon is a world-class conference with a world-wide audience. If you or your organization actively use Drupal, or even if you never have but want to learn, DrupalCon is your chance to engage the community, learn from others, and share your experiences. Training sessions will be available before the conference on March 19th and a code and contribution sprint on March 23rd (view full program).

DrupalCon Denver's theme, "Collaborative Publishing for Every Device," is a study on the shift of web access from traditional desktops to mobile devices, phones or tablets, and with it the greater combination of platforms Drupal leverages and integrates. The overall conference theme will be integrated into eight different categories: check out the Session Tracks page to read more about the subjects that will be covered at DrupalCon Denver or dive into the ~100 sessions on the schedule thus far!

 

Joomla! World Conference

November 16-18, 2012
San Jose, CA
The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce that the first Joomla World Conference will occur in November 2012 in San Jose, CA.  More details are to come, save the date!

Mike Lonski Attends Business Briefing in Washington D.C.

Mike Lonski, President of Allegro, was one of 25 people from the Richmond business community to travel to Washington D.C. to be part of a business leader briefing session at the White House.  The group met with Obama administration officials on Thursday, November 17th to discuss a variety of topics that affect business owners including; economic growth and health care reform.  The meetings are an effort to bring business leaders into the policy making process.

Tom Bascom to Speak at the VA and NC PUG Meetings

Tom Bascom, of White Star Software, is well-known in the Progress Community for his consulting expertise and experience with OpenEdge. He is a frequent speaker at Progress Exchange and Progress User Groups. His widely acclaimed and freely downloadable Progress tool set is used by Progress DBA's around the world.

 

Tom's Talk Overview:

Database Management Worst Practices

========================

Calling widespread bad habits in database administration "Worst Practices" may seem extreme. However, when you consider the critical nature of
most data, and just how damaging data loss or corruption can be - it seems pretty dead-on.

Although these behaviors are distressingly common among DBAs, they are curable with some shrewd management intervention. What follows is a
guide to the habits we consider to be the worst along with some ideas on how to successfully eliminate them.


Using the Progress Profiler

================

The most confounding performance problems are often application coding issues. These problems can be far more difficult (and expensive) to
diagnose and cure than hardware or database & operating system tuning problems. A very powerful, yet little known tool that helps you take the
guesswork out of the equation in order to target real problems rather than chasing phantoms and produce dependable results is the Profiler. The
Profiler can be used in all versions and on all platforms of Progress from v8.2 forward.

This talk will cover practical usage of the profiler and includes demo code that you can put to work immediately.

 

Both meetings will be held from 1-5pm with a networking lunch from 12- 1pm.  Please contact Amy at (804) 553-1130 or email agray@allegroconsultants.com by 10/7 if you would like to register for the upcoming meeting.

 

Virginia PUG Meeting:

Tuesday, October 11th
Allegro’s Office
9800 J.E.B. Stuart Parkway, Suite 106
Glen Allen, VA 23059
(804) 553-1130
Directions: http://www.allegroconsultants.com/allegro-consultants-office-directions

North Carolina PUG Meeting:

Wednesday, October 12th
Keystone Systems
8016 Glenwood Avenue
Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27612
(919) 782-1143
You can use MapQuest or Google Maps. To see it on GoogleMaps: http://tinyurl.com/3chuzu

Fall 2011 PUG Meetings Announced

Mark your calendars now to attend the next PUG meetings.  Allegro was unable to hold the Spring series and now there is so much to catch up on! We will hold the VAPUG meeting on Tuesday, October 11th in the Allegro offices in Glen Allen.  The NCPUG meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 12th at the Keystone offices, as usual.  Both meetings are scheduled 12PM - 5PM.  Enjoy networking with fellow Progress users and partners while learning about the latest Progress technologies. Catch up with your peers during our free catered lunch at noon! The presentations will begin around 1 p.m. and end around 5 p.m. The meetings are free of charge!

Please contact me, Amy Gray at (804) 553-1130 or agray@allegroconsultants.com to confirm your attendance and update your contact information. This will ensure you are notified of the final meeting details and future events. I also need to know if you will be joining us for lunch so that I can include you in the meal planning.

Speakers and topics will be posted shortly. We look forward to seeing all of you soon!